Last year, LG release the L Series which consisted of three phones namely the LG L3, L5, and the L7, respectively. The company also launched a fourth one in Asia called LG Optimus L9. The devices were meant to hit the mid-range market and surprisingly they had a lot of success as more than 10 million units were sold in only 10 months (which is great for a company like LG, which isn’t exactly a major player). For some reason, people liked the phones and that’s why LG announced yesterday a second generation which will hit the market as the LG L3 2, L5 2, and L72. The names are not just reported by a random site, they are the official brands cited from the press release of the company.

I’m not even gonna mention the technical specs for any of the three devices as they will come with the same hardware as the original L Series. The only difference between them is that the second generation of L handsets will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This is the only novelty that comes along, nothing new in terms of specs. I don’t know what kind of strategy is this because it would have been nice to see some upgrades to the hardware, as well. When they were launched, the LG L3, L5, and L7 were considered as mid-range devices. Now they are even more outdated. However, considering that LG isn’t the best when it comes to rolling out software updates for their products, this might be only opportunity to have one of the phones running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sadly, you will have to buy another unit of the handset you already use.

So, this is not the best solution out there. A better alternative would definitely be to buy an older device, but a flagship one. For instance, the Samsung Galaxy S2 includes exactly the same specification as the LG L7 2, but at least you’re going to enjoy better support, and comes bug free. Also, you will even get Android Jelly Bean because Samsung is a company that issues updates on a regular basis. In case you don’t get the Galaxy S2, you can choose the S2 Plus, a smartphone that comes with the latest Android version right out of the box.

Furthermore, if we take into consideration the fact that Samsung will soon launch the Galaxy S4, the price tag of the Galaxy S3 will certainly drop, and comparing it to LG’s devices would be just a bad joke.

I’m not saying that the smartphones manufactured by LG are awful, but if you’re going to revamp a series, revamp it! And I mean by upgrading the hardware, or its looks, not just updating the operating system. This is one of the reason why LG doesn’t stand in front alongside Samsung or Apple.